Sungaze - I’m No Longer Afraid of Heights

Sungaze return with their most expansive and emotionally resonant release to date. Their fourth full-length album, I’m No Longer Afraid of Heights, arrives May 22, 2026 via Candlepin Records (cassette) and Softseed Music (vinyl), with digital streaming worldwide.

With hints of shoegaze, midwest emo, and indie rock, I’m No Longer Afraid of Heights is Sungaze fully leaning into who they are–musically, geographically, and philosophically. Where past releases hinted at escape, this album plants its feet firmly in Midwest Ohio, allowing nostalgia, grief, and ambition to coexist. At its core, the album explores a central tension: nostalgia can be beautiful, but it can also trap you in the past while life quietly moves on. Across ten songs, Sungaze wrestle with the fear of stagnation and the courage it takes to choose the life you actually want. The message is clear and hopeful: we only get one life, and the time to live it is now.

The album opens with “Another Life,” a slow-burning track built on arpeggiated guitar and ambient textures before erupting into a soaring instrumental chorus. Vocalist Ivory Snow’s lyrics are intentionally left incomplete, most notably the pre-chorus “maybe in another…”. Its chorus–”is it ever / is it ever / will I ever”–poses the album’s central questions of self-worth and fulfillment.

The album closes with the poetic “I’m No Longer Afraid of Heights,” juxtaposing the warmth of childhood memory with the stagnation of adulthood left unlived. The bridge confronts time’s indifference: “and the world keeps spinning / with no chance of slowing down / there are boneyards full of people / who thought they’d make it out.” Together, the first and last tracks act as thematic bookends, framing the album as a movement from doubt toward decision.

Sonically, the album is Sungaze at their boldest. Hazy walls of guitar crack open into towering crescendos. Ivory Snow’s familiar vocal delivery–calm, intimate, and devastatingly human–opens up into moments of full-voiced release, heightening the emotional stakes. The sound balances grit and tenderness, landing somewhere between shoegaze haze and midwest emo immediacy, as if Title Fight were filtered through Mazzy Star.

The music video for the title track expands upon the thematic arc, moving from golden childhood flashbacks into an adulthood shaped by grief and depression. Its dual ending cuts between Snow in office attire, floating serenely in a childhood river spot, and Snow in a white lace dress, surfing the crowd at a Sungaze show.

Expanding the world of the album, Sungaze will also release SUNGAZE, a magazine-style companion piece. The magazine features collaborators, visuals, behind-the-scenes insights, and immersive material that deepens the album’s narrative universe.

With I’m No Longer Afraid of Heights, Sungaze transform reflection into motion. It is the sound of a band choosing to move forward, and inviting listeners to do the same.

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